Building Momentum in Modesto

9/14/15

Brothers and Sisters,

Things are getting better in Modesto California! When we came into this area, we only had one official investigator. Can you believe that? One. Now we have around nine or ten. Momentum in the wards is picking up as well. Missionary work is a lot like a train: the more people you have on board, the more effective it will be. Well, there is another thing about trains. Boy are they heavy. Have you ever watched a freight train accelerate? Good, neither have I because you would be there all day. Every time you switch from Sisters to Elders or Elders to Sisters the train just halts. Dead stop. Transfers? Slam on the brakes. Not a dead stop, but not far from it. So why do we slam on the brakes every six weeks? We wouldn't do it if it inhibited the missionary work. But we do, and it is so incredibly hard to get the momentum back up and moving. However, every six weeks comes a fresh new pair of missionaries, which means new motivations, new excitements, new perspectives, new everything! My point is, the work doesn't stop. Our comfort does. And as we have all heard: there is no comfort in the growth zone. If you are uncomfortable, it means you are growing! If the missionary work stayed the same, we wouldn't see any progress. 

Street Names:

-Coffee Rd

-Walnut Park Dr, Black Walnut Dr, Walnut Grove Wy, Walnut Tree Dr

-Mill Oak, Moss Oak, Shadow Oak, Star Oak, Majestic Oak, Coral Oak, Lincoln Oak, Canyon Oak, Manor Oak

-Friar Tuck Wy, Maid Mariane Ln

-Fine Av

The ones under the same bullet point are right next to each other. Basically, the street names here are absolutely crazy and sometimes fairly clever. Unfortunately, they make no sense and navigation is nearly impossible, especially now that we are on bikes and that our GPS and map were stolen by the Assistants. Nice. But hey, at least the Laotian Elders coming in today get all that good stuff! Elder Beck, my District Leader who I went on transfers with, bought me some corn from a little Hispanic salesman riding his little truck around on a bike. It's a corn cob dipped in mayo and cheese and then sprinkled with chili peppers. Super tasty, but my mouth was absolutely on fire for the next hour and I couldn't even finish that horrible thing that we only paid a dollar for. At least he liked it. We got a new investigator named Andrew, who just came up to us on the street and said he was Mormon and wanted us to meet with him. At the time he was homeless and fresh out of jail (and probably drunk), but now he is living with his brother. We talked with him yesterday, and had an awesome conversation. He never got baptized, but talked with missionaries before jail and now wants to have the lessons, go to church, and get baptized! It was so crazy! So we gave him a Book of Mormon because he lost the one he was reading in jail. So it turns out all of our investigators come from jail. Kinda funny. There's something in that though: the Spirit can only teach those that are willing to listen. Sounds pretty obvious but it really is so hard to apply. You all are the best! Thank you for the amazing support and for the lessons you have taught me throughout the years, even when I wasn't that person willing to listen the first 100 times. Have a great week!

-Elder Hawkes